Safety helmets are commonly used to protect against potential head injuries resulting from a variety of activities, including riding bicycles, motorcycles and other transportation devices as well as engaging in sports or other potentially high-impact activities. The helmet is arguably the single most effective safety device available to provide protection for a user's head, brain and face and to mitigate the risk of head injury and death from bicycle crashes. Some studies indicate that helmets can reduce the risk of brain injuries by 88 percent in the event of an accident.
Given the effective protection afforded by safety helmets, it would be beneficial if more bicyclists, sports players and other transportation device operators or riders would wear a helmet with more consistency. Parents especially may desire to ensure that their children are wearing a safety helmet while operating a bicycle or other activity device. Some reported data indicates that every year 300,000 children go to the emergency room because of bicycle related injuries, and at least 10,000 children have injuries that require multiple days in the hospital. Some of these injuries are so serious that they result in death, usually from head injuries. Features for helping ensure proper usage of safety helmets would help mitigate the risk of such serious injuries in many users, including both children and adults.
Other known applications of safety features include those used in automotive technology. Vehicle safety features including lights and audible alarms have been used to remind vehicle occupants to engage their seat belts before operating a vehicle. Such seatbelt usage reminders have proven advantageous in ensuring proper seatbelt usage, and thus significantly reducing the likelihood of serious injuries during the unfortunate event of a passenger vehicle crash. As such, new technology is desired that would reduce the number of head related injuries to users of an activity device by providing safety features that help ensure that they are properly using a safety helmet.